Box Score LISLE, Ill. (WLCSports.com) – The Wisconsin Lutheran College men's basketball team fell on the road Tuesday night in a battle for the top spot in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference, 83-55, to Benedictine inside the Dan and Ada Rice Center.
- Final Score: Benedictine 83, Wisconsin Lutheran 55
- Records: Wisconsin Lutheran (18-6, 15-4 NACC), Benedictine (20-4, 16-3 NACC)
- Location: Dan and Ada Rice Center, Lisle, Ill.
- After an Eagles layup on the opening possession, sophomore Alex VanCrete (Green Lake, Wis.) answered with a three to give the Warriors their only lead of the game. Benedictine then used a 12-2 run over the following minutes to take a 14-5 lead with 14:48 left in the first half.
- A three from junior Randy Johnson Jr. (Milwaukee, Wis.) and a jumper by freshman Trevor Stiede (Pulaski, Wis.) cut the deficit to four at 19-15 with just under 12 minutes left in the half.
- The hosts extended their lead to 12 on a midrange jumper before senior Andrew Bruggink (Brookfield, Wis.) knocked down a three close the gap to 35-26 with 1:25 left in the opening half. The Eagles scored the final five points of the half to take a 40-26 score into the halftime break.
- Early in the second half, sophomore Drew Bernhagen (Markesan, Wis.) completed a three-point play and Bruggink drained a three to bring the score back to within eight at 42-34.
- The two teams traded buckets for the next couple minutes before Benedictine rattled off a 13-0 run to take a 66-43 lead with under 10 minutes to play. Senior Andrew Wojcik (Brookfield, Wis.) ended the run with a three-point make from the wing.
- Another 8-0 BenU run over the ensuing possessions pushed the game out of reach as Benedictine won 83-55 to remain undefeated on its homecourt this season.
- Bruggink paced the team with 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, as the Warriors were held to 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the field, their second-lowest of the season, and 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from deep.
- Sophomore Zach Zuleger (West Bend, Wis.) gathered a team-best six rebounds, while Wojcik led the team with three assists.
- WLC's bench out-scored the Eagles 22-18, led by seven points from Johnson Jr.
- Kenny Bogus finished with a game-high 20 points, shooting 7-of-14 from the floor, while distributing six assists. Eric Grygo added 19 and tied for the team lead with six rebounds.
- The Eagles shot 51.6 percent (33-of-64) from the floor and 37.0 percent (10-of-27) from beyond the arc. Benedictine out-rebounded Wisconsin Lutheran 40-27, including 14 on the offensive glass, and out-scored WLC 44-18 in points in the paint and 29-11 in points off turnovers.
- Wisconsin Lutheran closes out the regular season on Saturday when it travels to Edgewood (8-17, 7-12 NACC) to take on the Eagles at 2:00 p.m. Live stats and video will be available on WLCSports.com.
